Huangshi Trip and Everyday China Photos

In mid-January, we decided to get out of Wuhan's recently very-bad smog by taking a trip to the nearby city of Huangshi. This smaller city is a couple hours away and is where several other members of our Zhong Relations team live and teach. Actually, Trevor and I took a trip to Huangshi around this same time last year with one of Inga's tutoring students (part 1 and part 2). But we have to say, this most recent weekend trip was much more fun.

Getting to Huangshi in the first place was a bit of an adventure. By the look of this photo, it might appear that we hitch-hiked along a busy highway to find a ride...which indeed we did. But don't worry, moms, our Chinese friend helped us find a safe driver. :)

We stayed with our friends, Brad and Dana and their adorable almost-one-year-old baby. Their home was such a welcoming place, and baby Leila's funny antics kept up laughing all weekend. Dana whipped up delicious breakfasts both mornings. Especially after living in China for a year and a half, treats like pancakes and coffee cake are indeed treats.

On Saturday, Trevor spent time with the guys. They spent most of their time hanging out in downtown Huangshi, though they also got to see the Huangshi "Fight Club" in action. These tough guys melted, however, when Brad and baby Leila showed up. Instead of trying to best each other in kungfu matches or wrestling, they turned to "fighting" for a chance to get a picture of the laowai baby.

Kevin and the "Fight Club," before baby Leila arrived

Inga met up with Lesley and Camille for some shopping and coffee (at one of Huangshi's cool new coffee shops!). After Dana returned from her Saturday teaching job, she met up with us a little later at Huangshi's newest malls before the four of us headed off for manicures. Coming from Wuhan where most activities include a lengthy bus ride, I was pretty impressed how much we could do in the downtown area of Huangshi in one day, all on foot.

There was definitely commotion at the new mall that Saturday. A food fair stretched across the entrance and there were competing sound systems at the booths which made the whole experience a little bit overwhelming. Giant Transformers 'guarded' the entrance (see Camille in the photo collage above for scale) and there was a man dressed up in a pig costume (one of the main characters in a classic Chinese story). My favorite part were the misspelled signs hung every ten feet or so: 'Crnand Open.'

The next week in January, I went to get a flu shot at a Chinese CDC clinic. It was located in a very 'normal' neighborhood of Hanyang, not too far from where I taught kindergarten last fall. While waiting for my Chinese friend to arrive on bus to help with the translating, I walked around and took some pictures of everyday China: 

This lady mends clothes with an old-fashioned sewing machine.
What caught my eye were the white numbered cloth tags hanging from each job.

This florist waited for customers while soaking up the (rare) sunshine.

On the left, this man makes what we call 'trash can bread' (flavored flatbread made by sticking dough onto the inner wall of a converted steel drum). On the right, this man sells (probably) home-grown vegetables.

This photo of 'everyday China' is actually from Huangshi, but is a common sight around Wuhan's malls, too. It's especially fun to see these balloon vendors ride their bikes or scooters while hanging onto their merchandise. 

The final detail of 'everyday China' is something I observed (with a bit of disgust) last winter, and have grown to accept as 'normal' this year. I've dubbed January as 'the month of seeing meat.' (Meat is pretty spendy here so buying chicken or ground beef is more of an occasional thing for us.) Many Chinese take advantage of the winter temperatures to cure meat, mainly sausages and fish. Most of this is eaten during Chinese New Year. We'll see the meat hanging up on just about any available wire. Sometimes it'll be curing right next to someone's laundry. There was plenty of sausages for sale at the Huangshi mall food fair, as well as a quick 'eat and run' chicken place. For the strong of stomach...here's a look:






If you don't like meat very much, don't say we didn't warn you!

Well, now you're probably either strongly craving some beef jerky or not, and we'll leave you to it. Chinese New Year is coming up soon, and we'll be sure to have some adventures to write about from that. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned~